© 2009 Fox Compser Thomas Newman

Exclusive Interview::

E-Notes: THOMAS NEWMAN GIVES A CHILLING WORKOUT IN 'REVOLUTIONARY ROAD' AND SOME ROBOTIC IMPULSES FOR 'WALL-E'

The composer of AMERICAN BEAUTY finds more music for family dysfunction at REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER , Soundtrack Editor
Published 1/19/2009

If his older brother David, cousin Randy and father Alfred followed a more traditional approach to movie music in his family’s film scoring dynasty, it’s safe to say that Thomas Newman has made a name for himself by playing both sides of the stylistic fence. One is steeped in the funky, experimental music of REAL GENIUS, THE SALTON SEA and AMERICAN BEAUTY, while the other abides in the rich, symphonic tradition of THE GOOD GERMAN, THE HORSE WHISPERER and LITTLE WOMEN. At his usual best, a Thomas Newman score like THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and FINDING NEMO can be as symphonically retro as it is sample-funk alternative.

Newman’s Oscar-nominated ability to hear brave new musical worlds is readily apparent in his acclaimed score for WALL-E, which robo rhythms and lush orchestrations give emotional voice to the titular trash compactor beyond his sound effects. And this awards season, Newman’s talent for playing the raw nerve of family dysfunction gets a chilling workout in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. As AMERICAN BEAUTY director Sam Mendes once again takes us into white picket hell, Newman’s beautifully haunted themes become a couple’s dissatisfaction with their sterile marriage, and the 1950’s suburbia they yearn to escape.

But whatever the stylistic aim of his work, there’s no mistaking the voice of Thomas Newman, a sound that’s embodied all that’s possible about film music to both entertain, and intrigue the storytelling senses.

iF: After scores like AMERICAN BEAUTY, IN THE BEDROOM, TOWELHEAD, LITTLE CHILDREN and your upcoming BROTHERS, would it be safe to call you the king of dysfunctional family composers?

THOMAS NEWMAN: Only by default! But it's true, isn't it? I do films that deal with what's below the surface in those situations.

iF: Why do you think this music is right for this kind of material?

NEWMAN: Probably because I have an interest in psychology and human character. That leads to more interesting choices I can make musically.

iF: Unlike AMERICAN BEAUTY, REVOLUTONARY ROAD is a period piece that's set in the 1950's. Because you use so many modern musical techniques in your scores, did you find yourself limiting that approach here to try to be more period-specific in your sound?

NEWMAN: Yes and no. You do have to lead with instruments that make you think you're in the time that the movie takes place in. So here I used an orchestra and piano as instruments of melody. But there are many ways you can still put interesting sounds into that approach, because you still want to be “modern” in the way you handle the characters’ psychology. It just should sound appropriate for the movie.

iF: There's a ghostly quality to REVOLUTIONARY ROAD’s score that makes it far darker than AMERICAN BEAUTY’s.

NEWMAN: I don't know if I had an “approach” so much as I found the score’s tone by hammering out ideas on a piano or computer, then waited for certain ideas to stick. Typically, I don't say, "Ahhh, this is the type of thing I want to write," so much as I say, "This is something that's coming to me. How appropriate is this approach? Will it stick to the picture in a way that seems real?" That's something I arrive at by default, and less so by conceptual design.

iF: Do you think there's a musical tone that links all of your scores for director Sam Mendes, especially since they all deal with the idea of family?

NEWMAN: Sam has a very strong creative personality, which makes us symbiotic in many ways. He often talks about the issues of father and son, which have fascinated Sam for as long as I've known him.

iF: The characters in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD dream of getting out of suburbia, but it's obvious that they’re going nowhere. How did you want your music to make audiences aware of this?

NEWMAN: I don't think the music should make the audience aware of anything. What was important to Sam here was having a very identifiable theme that would repeat itself. You could just plop it in at certain moments, and the music would just “do” something for the characters. However I'm hard pressed to tell you exactly what my main theme does, or what it says in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, because its main purpose is to always advance the story through a variety of different arrangements.

iF: REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is a dialogue driven, almost play-like film. Did that make it even more difficult to score?

NEWMAN: Movies that have too much music ultimately makes the score ineffective. And in a movie like REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, it’s important for the music just has to stay out of the way, to know when to let the dialogue play. Those musical entrances and exits were things that Sam and I worked a lot on, which is why the film has a rather spare score that doesn't go for more than forty minutes.

iF: Your other big film last year is WALL-E, which promises to be a major Oscar contender, especially with its music. Did you ever think the movie would get this kind of critical acclaim?

NEWMAN: I don't think anyone knew. WALL-E was a brave idea from the very beginning, and the director Andrew Stanton always stuck to his guns with it. Yet there was some doubt in everyone's minds. Because as good as WALL-E could be, we didn’t know if people pay attention, especially since there was little to no dialogue in the first thirty minutes. But I always embraced WALL-E’s bravery, and was glad to hop onto it. But until it came out, we really wondered if audiences would like WALL-E as much as its creators did.

iF: How do you score what's essentially a "silent" movie beyond the sound effects?

NEWMAN: You have to know how fast and slow the music should be, and when new ideas should start and end. Andrew had a lot of ideas of what that should be. He'd been working on the film for five years before I came onboard. So a lot of my conclusions were about embracing Andrews’ musical pre-dispositions, or trying to defy them.

iF: How "robotic" did you want WALL-E’s music to be?

NEWMAN: One of the abstract mandates early on was that if WALL-E’s music should be entirely orchestral, which would allow the sound effects to have a wonderful place to reside in, without the music getting in the way. But as compelling an argument as that was on a physical aspect, dramatically it started to feel limiting, particularly when we got onto the Axiom spaceship. So that's when I started thinking outside just the realm of doing a full orchestral score, and going into more sequenced and robotic ideas.

iF: What's ahead for you and Pixar?

NEWMAN: I know that Andrew's working on another movie. And I hope, pray and trust that I'll get a chance to work with him in the future.

iF: With more “out there” scores like WALL-E, do you think you’ve made the sound of experimental music go down easier for mass audiences more than any other film composer?

NEWMAN: I have a real theory as to why that might be so, which is because my approach is “coloristic” rather than harmonic. The interesting thing about harmonic language in music is that it's very, very demanding. If you limit your use of harmony, whether it’s using a drone approach, or having pieces with limited harmonic movement, then suddenly the ear is free to listen to color, and to hear things in space. It also frees up the mind to be able to perceive and follow dialogue in a way that makes the music non-distracting. So in that essence, it’s about finding ways to make my music interesting without being dramatically distracting for the audience.

iF: Having done so many brilliantly quirky soundtracks, have you ever found yourself limited by what filmmakers perceive that you can do as a composer, especially if they want a "Tom Newman" score?

NEWMAN: The reason I like to work with interesting sounds, colors and ambiences is because I'm typically surprised by what they do, and how they move me. If I ask myself questions like “What will this sound like if I do something with an electric guitar, as opposed to a group of flutes?” You just learn what works, and what's interesting, which is the way I've always composed. Not from a conceptual point of view, but from a place of "Wow! Let's try this!" It's all about what fascinates my ears, and what compels the storytelling. And then I go from there. I guess style is an inevitable consequence of creative activity- that somehow or other there's some organization of color, notes and rhythms that point to a musical approach. But I'd be hard-pressed to know how I got to it.

iF: Having dealt with so much movie ennui, do you ever feel stuck in LA suburbia?

NEWMAN: I do sometimes feel like I'm marooned in LA. But there are so many players here that I work with that I don't think I would consider living anywhere else. Besides, I live in an area in LA that I grew up in, and have a real association with the mud and the weeds.

Hear Tom Newman’s music speak for WALL-E at Walt Disney Records, and then take a trip down REVOLUTIONARY ROAD with the composer HERE

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